


Compassion

by Blackpenny



Category: Blake et Mortimer | Blake and Mortimer
Genre: The Curse of the Thirty Denarii, Why didn't Mortimer shoot?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 08:50:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4558332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackpenny/pseuds/Blackpenny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jessie Wingo finds English behavior ridiculous. Francis Blake considers the real reasons.</p><p>This is a translation of darkrogue1's excellent "Compassion." All ideas are hers, any mistakes are mine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compassion

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Compassion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4297935) by [darkrogue1 (Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse/pseuds/darkrogue1). 



Coming up from the hold after bringing Olrik his lunch, Captain Blake thinks he sees a figure on the starboard side of the deck. He’s correct. It’s Jessie Wingo, special agent to the FBI, arms crossed, back straight as a ruler, eyes black and disdainful.

After watching him for a moment and judging - rightly - that Blake and Mortimer have once again extracted nothing from their prisoner, she greets Blake with a nod and turns seaward. 

"Captain. "

Of course Olrik won’t talk under these conditions! Blake didn’t for a moment think that he would. The truth is there is no hurry and they are on board a civilian yacht. It’s certainly not the place to conduct a proper interview.

Two days ago, circumstances were different. If it had just been the two or them, or if they’d been among colleagues, Black would have gladly let Jessie have her bloodthirsty, practical way. But they were not alone; Eleni is a civilian, much shaken by the violence of their adventure already. As for Mortimer, it’s complicated.

Mortimer is also a civilian. Yes, he has been to war not once, but twice, and has even killed in the line of duty. Still, as a scientist he was placed in a protected position... and more importantly Mortimer is also a victim of torture.

It was Mortimer who first took Jessie's suggestions as a joke, so Blake decided to continue in the same tone. He prays that the American won’t raise the issue with the professor again. Each encounter with their old enemy brings back nightmares of the war that haunt Mortimer. Not for the world would Blake make things worse by awakening memories of the torture that nearly killed his friend; if that means not making the Colonel’s life too difficult for now, too bad. 

And then, as he’d expressed so well, Philip Mortimer seems to want to keep the Colonel intact. You would think he’d want revenge on his torturer, but every time he’s had the opportunity, Mortimer has not dared to use violence against Olrik until absolutely necessary.

Mortimer is certainly not a pacifist. When Olrik fell in the water, the professor picked up the gun that fell at his feet and did not hesitate to respond to fire from the Turkish machine gun, killing the gunner in self-defense. 

But Mortimer would not shoot their unarmed enemy, nor allow Jessie to hurt him. Jessie would have taken the shot. Blake? Probably not, as it’s his mission in life to capture the Colonel alive if possible. On the other hand, he would not have lifted a finger to save the blasted Colonel.

As for Mortimer, Francis Blake suspects that his old friend somehow became attached to his torturer in an instinctive survival response - to try to coax his capturer and improve his lot - and that even now, this compassion for Olrik persists and prevents him from directly attacking the Colonel unless his life is directly threatened. This is not the first time that this kind of behavior has been observed in victims of torture.

The Captain's heart tightens at seeing the professor still act under the influence of his former torturer, their eternal enemy. He hopes that it will not always be so, and he prays with all his soul that this weakness Mortimer has for Olrik stops at compassion.

Indeed, nothing would be worse than discovering that Mortimer could be attracted to another man, if that man was Olrik.

**Author's Note:**

> The term Stockholm syndrome was coined in 1973, but the reality that it describes was known long before that.


End file.
